BRITAIN. 



579 



lied by 



r'om- 



I 



for high .treason by the commons, and ordered into 

 custody. The Lord Keeper Finch, justly obnoxious 

 for having, on an important occasion, refused to put 

 the question when ordered by the Honse of Com- 

 mons ; for having procured, by intrigues Hiid mena- 

 ces, the extrajudicial opinion of the judges, in the 

 case of ship-money ; and for having been active in 

 many illegal measures, tried to deprecate the wrath 

 of the commons by submission ; but finding that his 

 impeachment was resolved on,. he fled to Holland. 



Spreading the terrors of their power still farther, 

 the commons proceeded to the punishment of those 

 agents of royalty, who could not properly be attaint- 

 ed for high treason, but whose co-operation with ty- 

 rannical measures, (though, in many instances, invo- 

 luntary,) brought on them the new term of delin- 

 quents. The sheriffs, who had levied ship-money, 

 were voted such ; the farmers and officers of cus- 

 toms concerned in raising poundage and tonnage, 

 were severely fined ; the members of the star-cham- 

 ber, and high commission conrts, were voted worthy 

 of punishment ; the judges, who had voted against 

 Hambden in the case of ship-money, were obliged to 

 find surety for their appearance ; and Berkeley, a 

 i'ld^-e of the king's bench, was seized on his tribunal 

 by an order of the house. The sentences which had 

 been executed against Prynne, Bastwick, and other 

 libellers of the court, were reversed, and their judges 

 were ordered to make reparation to the sufferers. 

 When those liberated patriots returned to London, 

 they were met by multitudes, and the roads before 

 them were strewed with flowers ; and amidst the 

 shouts of congratulation that attended them, were 

 intermingled loud invectives against their late oppres- 

 sors. Grievances were now represented, ^both by 

 members within and petitioners from without, in such 

 numbers, that the house was divided into above[ forty 

 committees; charged each of them with the examina- 

 tion of some particular violation of law or liberty ; 

 and from the reports of these committees, the house 

 daily passed votes which humbled the court, and ela- 

 ted the nation. Ship-money was declared illegal and 

 arbitrary, the sentence against Hambdeu cancelled, 

 the court of York abolished, compositions for knight- 

 hood stigmatised, and every late measure of adminis- 

 tration treated with reproach and obloquy. Among 

 the petitions from without, there was one which 

 strongly indicated the state of the popular mind as 

 to the church. A petition from the city, signed by 

 15,000 names, for a total alteration of church go- 

 vernment, was presented by alderman Pennington the 

 city member. 



The pretensions of the commons to the right of 

 imposing tonnage and poundage, by their own au- 

 thority, were revived with assurance of success. In 

 the preamble to the bill which they passed, for grant- 

 ing these duties to the king, they divested the crown 

 ofall right of levying them without their consent. 

 Charles was obliged to pass this important bill, as 

 well as to confirm, though with more reluctance, a 

 bill for reviving triennial parliaments, after the exam- 

 ple lately given by the Scottish parliament. A chaige 

 of ministers, as well as of measures, was resolved upon. 

 The Earls of Hartford, Essex, Bristol, Lord Kim- 

 bohon, and other noblemen of the popular party, 



were sworn priry counsellors. Juxon, bishop of 

 London, resigned the treasurer's staff ; but his cha- 

 racter, "and the moderation of his enemies, allowed 

 him to remain unmolested. A feeble negotiation for 

 the introduction of Pym, Hambden, and Hollis, into 

 office, was interrupted by the death of the Earl 

 Bedford ; andfrom circumstancesimperfecttjr explain 

 ed by historians, was never resumed. Unhappily for 

 Charles, he continued, after his old ministers h;id been 

 exiled and displaced, after the imprisonment of L.iuil, 

 and the execution of Strafford, to govern by mean* 

 of weak agents, destitute of energy or of credit with 

 parliament. 



The fate of Lord Strafford was not long dei.ijvd 

 after his commitment to the Tower. To bestow the ' o "' d Str *'" 

 greater solemnity on his trial, scaffolds were erected 

 in Westminster hall, where both houses sat, the one 

 as his accusers, the other as kis judges. Besides the 

 chair of state, a close gallery was prepared for the 

 king and queen, who attended during the whole trial. 

 Twenty-eight articles of impeachment were present- 

 ed against him, regarding his conduct as president of 

 the council of York, as deputy of Ireland, and conc- 

 mander in England. But though four months were 

 employed by the managers in framing the accusation, 

 and all his answers were extemporary, he certainly baf- 

 fled the arguments of his accusers, and fell by an il- 

 legal sentence. The evidence against him was ina- 

 dequate to establish the charge of absolute treason. 

 He was convicted, even according to his enemies, of 

 that constructive or accumulative treason, the bare 

 admission of which, as grounds of sentence, is a dis- 

 grace to any tribunal, and would sanction the most 

 enormous tyranny if it became a practice. The fear 

 of popular violence had probably no small share in 

 the decision of the Lords with respect to this unfor- 

 tunate nobleman, and the same battery was applied 

 to force the king's assent. Charles was irresolute ; 

 but Strafford, either hoping of escaping alive out of 

 prison, or expecting that Charles might be touched 

 more deeply by an offer of his own life, advised the 

 king to sign his death-warrant, in order to quiet the who is iilft 

 tumultuous people. Charles at last granted a com- pally con- 

 mission to four noblemen to give the royal consent to deninc-d. 

 the bill for his execution, an act for which he never 

 forgave himself. 



The commons, it may be said, were, without just Charles 

 grounds, jealous, that all the power which they had submits to 

 extorted from the king might be yet revoked, if they l ' ie P a rlu- 

 stopt at the present stage ; but we may suppose m 

 them, nevertheless, to have been sincere in those fears. - 

 The execution of Strafford is a blot on the memory 

 of that parliament, which it is possible for their ad- 

 vocates to palliate, but not to efface. The bill which 

 they introduced at this period for their perpetual Their ilir. 

 continuance, was a stretch of power which can only be jr^l pro- 

 vindicated by the plea of necessity. Charles empower- ceedings. 

 ed the same commissioners, who signed the warrant 

 for Stafford's fate, to assent to this bill, and for the 

 present conceded an entire victory to the popular 

 power. From policy, more than necessity, the com- 

 mons had borrowed money from the citizens, for the 

 payment ot the two armies during the negotiation 

 with the Scotch, which wns now transferred from 

 Rippon to London. The citizens started difficultier 



